Animation Insider reports that Climate Cartoons films will be coming to theaters in the very near future. Climate Cartoons is a non-profit organization started by animators, producers and distribution experts. Their agenda is to use animation as a way to educate people about the environment, and teach them specific ways in which they can help make a difference in global warming. Many professionals are already involved including pros from Colossal Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios. Climate is also actively seeking students, faculty and professional animator volunteers. Their first project, an animated short,

called “Seven Big Ideas,” has already begun circulation throughout movie theaters in the United States. The short film appears as a theatrical pre-show item for films rated G and PG by the Motion Picture Association of America. Dealing with the serious issues of climate change in a rather simple and often humorous way, Climate Cartoons hopes that “Seven Big Ideas” gives moviegoers a nudge in the right direction.

The short was funded by the MacArthur Foundation and features Izz and Dex, two green skinned kids from the PBS series “Meet the Greens”. The two challenge each other to come up with ways to save the planet. The short will air in theaters throughout the month of April.

UK’s TimesOnline announced that ‘Spitting Image’, a popular satirical series that ended 12 years ago and showcased latex rubber puppets in the images of popular figures, is getting reinvented with CG animation. Head writer Henry Naylor and Rory Bremner are preparing the new show entitled ‘Headcases’ and putting it into the ‘Spitting Image’ timeslot on Sunday ITV.  It will air starting next week.

Instead of puppets, Gordon Brown, Amy Winehouse and Prince William, among others, are captured using CGI-animation in the style of films such as Toy Story.

Robert Mugabe, Alistair Darling, Piers Morgan, Fabio Capello, the Beckhams, Nicolas Sarkozy and Dmitry Medvedev, presented as Vladimir Putin’s puppet, are among those on the cast list, which is limited to 64.

Headcases will be animated using motion capture. The show is being produced by Red Vision of Manchester. They claim that episodes will be completed only hours before the show airs so that each episode remains topical and relevant.

VFXWorld reports that Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios and a pioneer in the film industry will be speaking at SIGGRAPH 2008. Catmull has worked over 30 years in a major role of inventing many of today’s present computer graphics workflow practices used in the entertainment industry.

“Dr. Catmull’s innovations and leadership encompass his true passion for the computer graphics industry,” stated Jacquelyn Martino, SIGGRAPH 2008 Conference Chair from IBM T.J. Watson Research Center. “A great deal of what is done today with animation and computer graphics in motion pictures would not be possible without his inventions and contributions. Given that SIGGRAPH is celebrating its 35th conference, we could think of no one individual that could represent the evolution of the industry better than Dr. Catmull.”

SIGGRAPH 2008 will bring an estimated 30,000 computer graphics and interactive technology professionals from six continents to Los Angeles, California, USA for the industry’s most respected technical and creative programs focusing on research, science, art, animation, gaming, interactivity, education, and the web from Monday, August 11 through Friday, August 15, 2008 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

AWN reports that programming from Starz Ent. and Manga Ent. is now available on the iTunes Store to be purchased for download.

Fans can now purchase and download original series from Starz Ent., the second largest premium cable and satellite service in the U.S., including the celebrity-fueled comedies HEAD CASE and HOLLYWOOD RESIDENTIAL. In addition, fans of Manga Ent., a leading producer/distributor of anime content, can purchase and download episodes of GHOST IN THE SHELL: STAND ALONE COMPLEX, NOEIN, TOKKO and TACTICS.

Episodes are available for purchase now, and you can download them in a variety of formats including: viewable on your MAC or PC, for your iPod/iPhone, or widescreen TV.

According to Variety, the creators of ‘South Park’, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, have decided to let fans enjoy every episode of South Park for free on their website, SouthParkStudios.com.

“We got really sick of having to download our own show illegally all the time, so we gave ourselves a legal alternative,” the duo quipped in a statement.

The site offers every “South Park” episode including the current one, which stays live for a week after its airdate and then goes dark for the rest of the month, at which point it is added to the site’s back catalog.

The episodes are currently streamed with no commercial/ad breaks, but a rep from Comedy Central did say that full episodes would eventually include advertising. According to Comedy Central, the site debuted with little announcement last week, and has already garnered 3 million page visitors and 1 million full episode streams.

Animation Magazine reports that 20th Century Fox’s Horton Hears a Who! is still number one in the U.S. after a healthy-intake at the box office over the Easter weekend. The total two week gross domestically is roughly $86.4 million. Horton narrowly beat out the opening of Tyler Perry’s new film Meet the Browns which estimates say earned roughly $20 million.

Rounding out the Top 5 at the box office over the weekend was the new horror film Shutter, Drillbit Taylor, and Warner Bros. special effect-laden 10,000 B.C. Animation Magazine reports,

Director Roland Emmerich’s latest exercise in spectacle filmmaking raked in another $8.6 million to bring its domestic cume to roughly $76 million. And though it’s slipping down the chart in North America, it’s the reigning champ overseas. Foreign play dates have kicked in approximately $74 million to date, making the film a bona fide International hit with a worldwide gross surpassing $150 million.

Ani-Jobs is pleased to announce a brand new section of our website– the Resume Cafe!

The Resume Cafe is a comprehensive resume and demo reel database. Job seekers can create a page in our database where they can upload their resume, import selected pieces of their artwork, and even embed a demo reel. Employers can easily search the database and find exact matches for their open positions.

The Resume Cafe is open for business!

The Hollywood Reporter announced that EA and Starz Media are collaborating on producing an animated prequel film to EA’s new sci-fi horror game Dead Space.

The film being developed by Starz subsidiary Film Roman will pick up where the comic book series on which it is based ends and leads to the beginning of the game.

With the game, set for a Halloween launch, Film Roman president and COO Scott Greenberg said the company is looking to release the animated film between mid-September and late October, initially as a TV special in multiple markets, followed by a home video release through Starz’s home entertainment company, Anchor Bay Entertainment.

Starz will be looking to sell the animated video internationally at MIP-TV in Cannes next month. With the plan of screening the film in the TV market and direct-to-video, Starz is offering two versions of the film. A “softer” film will air on TV, while a harsher, more graphic version will be offered in the direct-to-video market.

Read the interview here about the making of ‘Break the Ice’, Britney Spears’ new video from her 2007 album “Blackout”. See the video on www.Blackoutball.com.

TV Squad is reporting that Warner Bro.’s will no longer produce Legion of Super Heros after this season ends. 

 …production has halted for the Kids WB! series. There will be three more episodes of the series, with two of them being part of the series finale that will air sometime later this year. Replacing this series, on someplace other than Kids WB!, which ends its run this season, will be a new program entitled Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Whether this show will replace the current The Batman series, or where this show will air, has yet to be determined.     

 TV Squad goes on to report Ben 10: Alien Force will  be debuting on april 18th on cartoon network. Which we had previously reported here .